Second Beginning
by mminene
Summary: After the death of his human body, Ichigo's substitute status has come to an end. He travels to the Soul Society and reunites with his shinigami friends after many years. The catch: he has to rebuild his shinigami powers and finish his education through the Shinigami Academy just like any other soul, even if he is a war hero.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey welcome! So this story is an AU that takes place after the winter war without the Fullbring arc and everything that's going on with the Quincys in the manga. Ichigo has just been living his life as a substitute shinigami apart from the soul society for the most part. In this AU we're also just going to assume that Ichigo never lost his shinigami powers after his battle with Aizen or that he did lose them and he somehow miraculously got them back. Either way it's not relevant to the plot at all so you pick whatever suits you. Enjoy!**

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It had been 70 years since the winter war against Aizen, and Ichigo was about to be 87. His soul however, still appeared to be a 17 year old shinigami. He still had the substitute shinigami badge that was given to him by Ukitake to alert him when a hollow would arrive and it did go off every so often, but not as frequently was it once did. Rukia and all the other shinigami visited less and less frequently after the war and it had been years since Ichigo had seen any of his friends from Seireitei.

 _Beep beep beep_

The substitute badge began to sound as he felt a hollow's reiatsu appear. In a flash, Ichigo left his old, frail body behind and sped towards the hollow. As it turned out, he didn't have to travel far, the hollow was wreaking havoc just a little ways down the road from where Ichigo was living. The hollow noticed Ichigo's sudden appearance and charged towards him, knocking over everything in its path.

The hollow would've been considered a strong one if not for the fact that Ichigo had faced much stronger. Ichigo made quick work of killing the monster with a powerful slash across the mask with Zangetsu. When Ichigo turned to return home, he noticed that the hollow had plowed over a telephone pole in its rampage and it just so happened to fall right through Ichigo's roof.

"Oh shit," Ichigo rushed back through an undamaged window. Ichigo's body, left on Ichigo's bed, was completely crushed underneath the debris.

"To think I'd be done in by a small fry like that," Ichigo laughed to himself and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I guess I have to head over to Urahara-san's."

Ichigo made his way towards the candy shop. He had always imagined that he would be a little bit sad when he died but he found that he actually felt elated. The idea of not being tied down to a physical body and being able to see his shinigami friends again was exciting, especially Rukia. They were like partners-in-crime in a manner of speaking. They had left on good terms the last time they saw each other, Rukia had explained that she wasn't sure when she would be able to visit again due to her new responsibilities as a vice captain. Ichigo understood, knowing that it wouldn't be the last time he saw her, whether she visited again or not.

He wandered into the shop in search of the owner who was nowhere in sight.

"Urahara-san?" Ichigo called towards the back of the shop when Tessai walked out of the back room carrying some boxes.

"Ah Ichigo! He's in the underground training room. Feel free to let yourself down."

"Thanks Tessai."

Ichigo made his way down the ladder to the cavernous training room to search for Urahara, who was conveniently perched in plain sight on a large rock in the middle of the field. He appeared to be tinkering with something as he felt Ichigo approach.

"Ah Kurosaki-san! I've been working on a new reiatsu warping device, would you like to see?" Urahara held out what looked like a television remote with a tiny satellite attached to the top.

"Not right now, I'm afraid I have some news about the state of my body." Ichigo cleared his throat. "It seems like I'm finally... dead."

Urahara chuckled a bit and jumped down from the boulder to face Ichigo, "My condolences. If I may ask, what was it that finally killed the great Kurosaki Ichigo? Heart attack?"

Ichigo rolled his eyes and mumbled something under his breath.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that," Urahara leaned in and cupped his ear with a humorous smile on his face.

"A hollow knocked a telephone pole into my house." Ichigo scowled at his feet, suddenly feeling less okay about dying. He was never going to live this down.

"Really? You were accidently killed by a random hollow?" Urahara started laughing, "Did you hear that Tessai? Oh, how the mighty have fallen!"

Ichigo felt his face flush and was very tempted to knock Urahara into oblivion, and he would have if he weren't here to ask for help. Ichigo managed to keep his temper in check and attempted to smile pleasantly but it came out as more of a grimace. "Glad to hear you find my death so entertaining but what do you suggest I do now that I have no body to return to?"

Urahara had stopped laughing and hid his face behind his fan but it was obvious that he was still found Ichigo's demise quite funny, "Well Ichigo, there's only one thing to do now and that's send you to the soul society."

"I figured as much. I'll let you set up the senkaimon then."

"You're mistaken Kurosaki-san, I can't send you there through the senkaimon this time, it wouldn't be fair." Urahara's eyes peaked out from under his hat and glittered with amusement.

"You can't mean…" Ichigo's face fell at the realization that Urahara was going to perform konso on him. How humiliating could this day get? "Are you serious? I think I've grown past needing konso to travel to Seireitei."

"And there lies the problem, sending you straight to Seireitei would be unfair to the other souls who have to arrive in Rukongai." Urahara's grin widened from behind his fan, "Think of this as a rite of passage that all souls must eventually go through, including famous war heroes."

"So what you're saying is you could send me through a senkaimon, but you won't?" Ichigo was losing his composure, "What the hell, Urahara!"

"Take it or leave it Ichigo, but that's how I'm going to send you," Urahara hopped back on the boulder and began to fiddle with his gadget. "If you can find someone else to open the Senkaimon for you then feel free to go and ask them."

Ichigo sighed in defeat. He knew that Urahara was the most convenient way to get to the Soul Society. It was obvious that he was just insisting on konso to get to him, but Ichigo would just have to swallow his pride and cross over like any other soul would.

"Fine, I'll just use konso."

"Excellent!" Urahara jumped off the boulder again with his cane in his hand. "Some advice before you go, you may want to change your appearance once you get there, you're quite famous after the Winter War with Aizen. You also might end up quite far from Seireitei, unfortunately I can't control where in Rukongai you'll end up. Happy travels!"

And with that, Urahara tapped the tip of Benihime to Ichigo's forehead.

* * *

Ichigo found himself waking up on a dirt path in the middle of a small town. He picked himself off the ground and realized he wasn't wearing his standard black shinigami uniform that he had grown so accustomed to. Instead he was wearing simple white linen clothing and woven sandals.

"Sandals huh? At least I know that I'm not on the outskirts of Rukongai." Ichigo prayed that he was in one of the closer districts, he didn't fancy having to walk all the way to Seireitei from the outer districts. After noticing his clothes, Ichigo began to take note of his surroundings. People appeared to be well off as far as he was concerned, they were far from nobility but in no way were they poor either. The second thing he noticed was the stares he was getting from the people in the street. Ichigo was used to it, having orange hair and all, but he figured that it was normal for new souls to appear this way. He soon figured out that that wasn't why people were staring.

Ichigo walked over to the nearest person, a young woman carrying a baby, to ask what district he had landed in and which way to start walking to get to Seireitei. He discovered that he was in District 36 and he would be able to reach the gates of Seireitei in about two days if he walked east.

Just as Ichigo was about to thank her and get going she asked him a question that surprised him, "I know this is probably incredibly unlikely but you seem to share many characteristics with the hero of the Winter War. Are you related to him by any chance?"

Ichigo stared down at the woman in shock, Urahara wasn't kidding when he said he was famous in the Soul Society. Ichigo decided that it would be easier to lie, "Sorry but no I've never even met him."

"Oh well, I thought since you both have the same unusual hair color there might be some connection. Good luck on your trip to Seireitei then!" The woman turned and walked away towards whatever business she was on her way to do before Ichigo interrupted.

"It's always the hair, isn't it," Ichigo muttered to himself as he began his trek east. "I can't escape the attention, even in death."

As Ichigo continued to walk through District 36, people couldn't help but noticing the man with the same hair as their beloved hero. He found that the stares were starting to get to him and it finally got to the point where he had to swipe a bamboo farmers hat to cover his head. He felt bad about having to steal but he arrived with no money so he wasn't left with much of a choice.

Once Ichigo fell into a steady pace the districts seemed to fly by. By the time it began to get dark, Ichigo had made it to District 15. Satisfied with the progress he had made, Ichigo found a nice, comfortable spot at the base of a tree to rest at. He tipped his bamboo hat over his eyes to block out the remaining sunlight and quickly drifted to sleep.

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 **That's it for the first chapter! Please let me know what you think! Next chapter Ichigo gets to Seireitei.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone! I'd like to tell you a few things about my plans for this story real quick. First of all, I don't plan to get into too many heavy, dramatic or angsty situations, but this isn't a crack fic. I just feel like the bleach fandom could use some more lighthearted stories. Another thing I'd like to mention is, yes, there will be some romance between Ichigo and Rukia later on but I don't plan on making it the main point of the story. I know one of the genres I chose for this fic was romance, but this will be more about Ichigo assimilating to life in the Soul Society after his death. Now I know you're not here to listen to me talk so without further ado, on to Chapter 2!**

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The rest of Ichigo's trip through Rukongai flew by pretty quickly. After donning his bamboo hat, the stares decreased significantly. The walk left him with an awful lot of time to think.

He thought it was strange that he showed up in white linen rather than his shinigami uniform, and where was Zangetsu? Ichigo reached out in his mind and tried to call upon his zanpakuto.

 _Yo Old Man are you there?_

Ichigo felt a familiar stirring in his mindscape and heard Zangetsu's voice for the first time since he arrived in the Soul Society.

 _Yes Ichigo, I am here._ Zangetsu's voice was fainter than it normally was, but Ichigo was thankful that it was still present.

 _Is everything ok? Why didn't you appear with me in the Soul Society?_

It was silent for a moment before Zangetsu spoke.

 _The konso appears to have had an effect on your powers similar to a reset button. Thanks to your excess of reiatsu the effect wasn't as extreme as it could've been, but for now I am unable to manifest physically._

Ichigo silently cursed Urahara. He must have known the effect that konso would have, but he insisted anyway. This must have something to do with that idiotic speech he gave about how sending him straight to Seireitei would be "unfair" to the other souls.

"Damn him and his stupid hat," Ichigo grumbled other insults about the shop keeper under his breath. "I don't give a damn about 'unfair'. I think I've earned my right to be sent to Seireitei with my powers intact after I saved their asses."

Ichigo scowled at his feet as his mind wandered towards his family. Ichigo's father had returned to the Soul Society years ago to avoid suspicion. Once Isshin had reached the ripe old age of 97 as a human, he and his family decided that it was time to abandon his gigai. Last Ichigo had heard, Isshin was doing well as the new captain of the ninth squad. They couldn't offer him his old position as the tenth squad captain, Toshiro filled that vacancy after Isshin's disappearance, but he was more than willing to accept Yamamoto's invitation to fill one of the positions left by Aizen, Gin, and Tousen. Isshin wasn't Yamamoto's ideal choice, but strong shinigami that the Gotei 13 could trust were hard to come by nowadays.

Ichigo wasn't worried about his father at all, he wasn't worried about Karin either. Karin had died from a complication after her third surgery on an old soccer injury a few years before Ichigo. A hard kick to the kneecap had ended her soccer career prematurely. Karin's resilient spirit forbid her from dwelling on her misfortune and as soon as she was rehabilitated she became a soccer coach for elementary school kids. As she got older, her knee began to bother her more and more, so she had multiple surgeries to relieve the pain. Yuzu was devastated after Karin died and was the only living member of the Kurosaki family now that Ichigo had died.

Ichigo knew that Yuzu understood that their father and Karin had gone to the Soul Society and were just fine there but that didn't make her miss them any less. Ichigo suddenly regretted not going to say goodbye to his little sister, not that she would have been able to see him. Yuzu was the only one of the three siblings to get married and start a family, she even had grandkids now. The fact that Yuzu had her husband and children was a small comfort to Ichigo, at least she wouldn't be completely alone.

Ichigo noticed that he had reached the districts which housed the extremely wealthy residents of Rukongai who seemed like they were just a step away from being nobles. A man passed him wearing fine clothing that looked expensive enough to empty Ichigo's bank account. He threw a disgusted look in Ichigo's direction and Ichigo suddenly felt very underdressed. He realized he must've looked ridiculous to these people in his farmer's hat and not-so-white clothes. After walking for two days straight he had gotten pretty dirty and, now that he thought about it, very hungry.

Ichigo figured that he could wait out his hunger until he reached Seireitei but he decided that it would probably be better to travel on back roads and remain out of sight to avoid trouble. The few people he did pass either glared at him or pretended like he didn't exist all together. He managed to reach the gates of Seireitei without incident.

Ichigo looked up at the gate towering high above his head, sighed, then leaned against it and slowly sunk to the ground.

"Dammit, I did not think this through." He had come this far but never once thought about how he was going to get past the massive gate. He thought about Jidanbo but he was the guardian of the Western Gate, and of course Ichigo had arrived at the Eastern Gate. If he remembered correctly, each gate had a ten day walking distance between them, and Ichigo would be damned if he was going to spend the next twenty days walking through a district full of rich, standoffish spirits.

Ichigo continued to sit against the gate and marvel at his own stupidity. Lucky, he didn't have to sit for long. Ichigo felt the gate start to move against his back. He quickly jumped away and dropped into a fighting stance, expecting the worst.

Ichigo was pleasantly surprised. Standing on the other side of the gate was none other than Ukitake Juushiro, captain of the thirteenth division.

"Ichigo-kun! I thought I felt a familiar reiatsu. We received word of your death yesterday and have been trying to track you down. Who'd have thought you'd find us first!" Ukitake gave him a warm smile but he didn't seem at all surprised to find Ichigo sitting at the gate. In fact, there was a twinkle of amusement and nostalgia in his eyes. Ichigo didn't blame him, he had come full circle from the time he first entered Seireitei as a ryoka. "Why don't you join me for some tea and we can catch up."

Ichigo followed Ukitake through back to his captain chambers at the thirteenth division. Ukitake's living space was kept very organized and clean. There was a desk on one side of the room with some paperwork and an ornate looking orchid. In fact, there were many types of plants all around the room. Ichigo assumed that they were there to improve the air quality in his office to help with Ukitake's illness. The other side of the office opened up to a dock that stretched across a large pond. Ukitake lead Ichigo out to the end of the dock to a wooden cabana with rice paper walls and a circular window on the opposite wall. The traditional japanese style matched the office that the two men had just come from.

Inside the cabana was a table with a tea set along with snacks ready and waiting for someone to use it. Ukitake sat and motioned for Ichigo to join him and he poured himself a cup of tea. Ichigo sat opposite of Ukitake who had since moved to fill Ichigo's cup with tea as well.

"Well Ichigo-kun, I'm glad I caught wind of you when I did, you've been surprisingly hard for us to track down," Ukitake took a sip of tea. "You're usually leaking enough reiatsu to locate from anywhere."

"I've noticed that too, Zangetsu has a theory that it might have something to do with the fact that Urahara-san sent me here through konso, he hasn't been able to materialize since I've arrived here." Ichigo said through mouthfuls of the little cracker-like snacks set next to the teapot. Ichigo knew that what he was doing was a bit rude but his stomach thanked him for it. After two days of walking without anything to eat, Ichigo was desperate for something fill the dull ache in his gut.

"He sent you here through konso?" Ukitake's eyebrows raised slightly in surprise.

"Yeah but I wouldn't have agreed to it if I had known about this fabulous little side effect." Ichigo's right eye twitched in annoyance as he thought of Urahara's smug expression when he tapped that damn cane on his forehead. Ukitake sighed in exasperation.

"Yes that does sound like something Kisuke-san would do. Well your Zanpakuto was right, I'm afraid. Konso does have a tendency to temporarily seal a soul's spiritual powers if it has any during life. It's a reaction the body has in order to acclimate to its new environment. The high concentration of reishi in the soul society tends to make those who are not used to it feel quite sick if they have spiritual power," Ukitake gestured towards Ichigo, "You are a special case, the amount of reiatsu you had while you have while you were alive far exceeded the average person. That with the fact that you've already spent time here explains why all of your power was not sealed away. The portion that was sealed was most likely due to a vestigial instinct coded in the human half of your DNA."

"Well it's good to hear that this is only temporary. How long does this usually last?" Ichigo felt some relief in the explanation Ukitake had provided.

"It all depends on the individual, for some it takes years. This does put a delay on our plans for you. We were going to offer you a position as soon as we found you but it looks like that'll have to wait." Ukitake's brow furrowed as he scratched his chin, "There is something we can do to jumpstart the return of your reiatsu and be of great benefit to you but I'd have to run it by the Soutaicho first."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa back up! you were going to offer me a position? What position?" Ichigo looked shocked but Ukitake waved him off.

"It's not important right now but don't worry, we will go over it with you in detail when the time comes." Ichigo looked like he wanted to argue more but knew it would be useless. Now that he had found the cause of his sudden decrease in reiatsu, there was something else he had been meaning to ask about.

"So, it looks like I'm celebrity now, how did that happen?" Ichigo smirked and waited for Ukitake to answer. Ukitake just set down his tea and laughed.

"Well it's hard not to notice that there's a war going on, especially when you're fighting someone like Aizen. We couldn't have kept it hidden if we tried." Ukitake gave Ichigo a sympathetic smile, "A couple of years ago, word got out that an orange haired shinigami named Kurosaki Ichigo was the one to finally defeat Aizen, and not one of the captains. I'm sorry, it must've been very inconvenient to get here."

"I've got to admit, I was shocked when someone asked if I was a war hero but I managed to solve that problem pretty quickly." Ichigo gestured to his bamboo hat, "No matter where I go, my hair is always causing trouble for me."

The two men continued their conversation until they finished their tea. Ukitake pushed his cup to the side and stood up, "Why don't you stay in the thirteenth squad barracks tonight? I'll bring up my idea tomorrow at the captains meeting but until then you should get some rest."

"I appreciate that Ukitake-san," Ichigo followed Ukitake to an empty room with a futon rolled out on the floor. The room was pain but Ichigo didn't need much. He bowed to his senior and thanked him once more before parting. After Ukitake left, Ichigo collapsed on the futon. Walking for two days straight with nothing to eat took a lot out of a guy.

He lay staring at the ceiling wondering what Ukitake had in mind for him. As much as Ichigo trusted him, there was still a level of concern about what he might be getting himself into. Ichigo sighed and rolled over, he would deal with that potential problem when he had too. He was relieved to be in the Soul Society again, but it was a little bit of a disappointment that he hadn't been greeted by more of his friends. He chalked it up to the fact that his reiatsu had been severely depleted after the konso incident and they probably hadn't realized that he'd arrived yet.

He thought of Renji and Ikkaku and Yumichika, even Hanataro. His mind eventually wandered to a certain violet eyed shinigami. Why didn't Rukia greet him? He was in her division, there's no way she wouldn't have felt his reiatsu. He would have to ask Ukitake what she's been up to tomorrow. Ichigo's fatigue took over and he finally fell asleep.

* * *

When Ichigo woke up the next morning, the thirteenth division was awake and moving. Someone was knocking on his door. A young shinigami stood so stiffly upright, Ichigo thought that his spine might break if it stretched any farther.

"Captain Ukitake would like to see you in his office, sir!" The shinigami saluted and bolted down the hallway and around the corner. Ichigo yawned and scratched his head.

"I guess I should get dressed then." Ichigo found the linen clothing folded neatly next to his futon. Someone had obviously taken them and cleaned them since last night.

After he got dressed, Ichigo set out to find Ukitake's office. After a couple wrong doors and awkward moments, Ichigo finally found the room he was looking for.

"Ukitake-san?" Ichigo knocked as he opened the door. He was relieved to see that it was the office he passed through yesterday.

"Ichigo! Come in, come in. I have some good news," Ukitake gestured for Ichigo to take a seat. "My idea went over well at the captains meeting."

"That's good to hear, although I still have no clue what this idea is." Ichigo sat himself down across from Ukitake.

"Oh that's right! I suppose I should tell you. Ichigo, starting today, you're going to be attending the Shinigami Academy!"

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 **Wow some of this chapter was hard to write! Please review and tell me what you think!**


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